This invention relates to electromechanical micropositioners and particularly to micropositioners for optical applications.
Micropositioners of the prior art employ piezoelectric or magnetostrictive driver elements to provide the necessary force to move optical elements. The desired displacement is usually obtained by the combined effects of suitably energized discrete X, Y and Z coordinate drivers. The inherent disadvantages of prior art micropositioners include, a need for complex precision structures to support these discrete elements in close tolerance mutual relationships, need for special power supplies to provide smooth transition from positive to negative displacements, and need for special electrical circuitry to inject superimposed modulated signals.